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GEM COUNTY, Idaho (AP) — A man convicted of burning down two churches has been sentenced to 85 years in prison.
The Idaho Press-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1F6gbwt ) that Bradley Thomasson was sentenced Monday after a jury convicted the Emmett resident in March of the arson of the Community Bible Church and First Baptist Church in April 2013. Thomasson was 41 at the time of the crime.
Both churches had been significantly damaged by water, smoke and heat. Damage costs totaled more than $2 million. No one had been injured in the incidents.
Third District Judge Susan Wiebe gave Thomasson the maximum sentence of 25 years each for the two counts of arson. Thomasson also received 10 years each on the two counts of burglary, 14 years on one count of grand theft, and 1 year for petit theft.
Thomasson spent 22 years in the state prison system for the 1989 murders of his adoptive parents in their Lewiston home in northern Idaho.
He had been 17 when he shot 50-year-old Judith Thomasson and 57-year-old Ray Thomasson over what he described as "an argument about his use of the family car."
He was released on parole in January 2012.
Another man in the church arsons, 45-year-old William Charles Dorahush Jr., in September 2013 pleaded guilty to first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson.
Prosecutors say Dorahush and Thomasson broke into the churches and took various items before setting fires in the buildings.
Dorahush was sentenced to 25 years in prison in December, and will have to serve at least five years of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. Court records say Dorahush has previous arson convictions.
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Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune, http://www.idahopress.com
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